By Annabelle Beydoun Orozco
Gilberto Gil, former Minister of Culture in Brazil for Lula’s government had a Conference on October 16 to the University of Gastronomic Sciences. Introduced by the University’s President, Carlo Petrini, who affirmed that very few people could make such a difference in their countries and remain simple and humble.
Mr. Gil spoke about the importance of having places like this university, because they foster “new possibilities for the real people to appropriate of this special heritage. Food is the thing that you lean over, that which you study”, encouraging students to take responsibility and think about the big challenges such as malnourishment, diseases and the uneven distribution of food in the world but also inviting them to propose ideas and most importantly to cooperate with others.
With this vision he was able to transmit the “family agriculture” concept to everyone, as a solution for food sovereignty, stressing the influence small producers and the culture of family have in our lives. Mr. Gil then introduced his daughter, Isabella, who inspired by her fathers’ food philosophy has pursued an education in nutrition and culinary arts, a career that has helped her embrace a “family attitude with the purpose of getting better food” and applauding Slow Food for continuously supporting this type of practices; Isabella added “the real doctors of the world are the small producers… if we don’t take care of them, we won’t have good health”.
An interaction with students followed, starting with a question on what was the connection between his music career and food; as to which Mr. Gil responded “Food is culture”, mentioning some artists who have written songs about food and politics and singing verses from his own song “Pílula de alho” (Garlic Pill) recalling a tooth ache that didn’t go away until he took garlic pills, advocating for the antibiotic healing powers of this common food item.
Answering a final question from a second year student about his term as Minister of Culture, where he served for six years, he concluded saying that this job allowed him to get closer to government projects, enforce programs to help people most in need and also protect culture in brazil including food traditions, his purpose is “to take care of the arts and the heritage”.